Mesospheric concentric gravity waves generated by multiple convective storms over the North American Great Plain

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

Volumn 117, Issue 7, 2012, Pages

  Vadas, Sharon ^a   Yue, Jia ^b   Nakamura, Takuji ^c  

^a NORTHWEST RESEARCH ASSOCIATES   (United States)

^b NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH   (United States)

^c NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF POLAR RESEARCH   (Japan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GRAVITY WAVES; METEOROLOGICAL RADAR; THUNDERSTORMS;

BACKGROUND MODEL; BACKGROUND WINDS; CONCENTRIC RINGS; CONVECTIVE PLUME; CONVECTIVE STORMS; CONVECTIVELY GENERATED GRAVITY WAVES; DEEP CONVECTION; FORT COLLINS; HIGH FREQUENCY HF; MESOPAUSE REGION; NEBRASKA; NORTH AMERICAN; PHASE SPEED; RADAR OBSERVATIONS; RAY-TRACE; SHORT-WAVELENGTH; SOUTH DAKOTAS; TEMPERATURE PERTURBATIONS; VERTICAL VELOCITY; WAVE PARAMETERS;

WAVELENGTH;

AIRGLOW; ATMOSPHERIC CONVECTION; ATMOSPHERIC PLUME; GOES; GRAVITY WAVE; MESOPAUSE; MESOSPHERE; STORM; THUNDERSTORM; TROPOSPHERE; WAVELENGTH;

COLORADO; FORT COLLINS; GREAT PLAINS; SOUTH DAKOTA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 84859907006     PISSN: 01480227     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/2011JD017025     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Alexander, M. J., J. R. Holton, and D. R. Durran (1995), The gravity wave response above deep convection in a squall line simulation, J. Atmos. Sci., 52(12), 2212-2226, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(1995) 052<2212:TGWRAD>2. 0. CO;2. (Pubitemid 26439476)
2. Alexander, M. J., P. T. May, and J. H. Beres (2004), Gravity waves generated by convection in Darwin area during the Darwin Area Wave Experiment, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D20S04, doi:10. 1029/2004JD004729.
3. Andrews, D. G., J. R. Holton, and C. B. Leovy (1987), Middle Atmosphere Dynamics, Academic, San Diego, Calif.
4. Baumgarten, G. (2010), Doppler Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar for wind and temperature measurements in the middle atmosphere up to 80 km, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3(6), 1509-1518, doi:10. 5194/amt-3-1509-2010.
5. Beres, J. H. (2004), Gravity wave generation by a three-dimensional thermal forcing, J. Atmos. Sci., 61, 1805-1815, doi:10. 1175/1520- 0469(2004)061<1805:GWGBAT>2. 0. CO;2. (Pubitemid 39115682)
6. Choi, H.-J., H.-Y. Chun, and I.-S. Song (2007), Characteristics and momentum flux spectrum of convectively forced internal gravity waves in ensemble numerical simulations, J. Atmos. Sci., 64(10), 3723-3734, doi:10. 1175/JAS4037. 1. (Pubitemid 350041870)
7. Chun, H.-Y., H.-J. Choi, and I.-S. Song (2008), Effects of nonlinearity on convectively forced internal gravity waves: Application to a gravity wave drag parameterization, J. Atmos. Sci., 65(2), 557-575, doi:10. 1175/2007JAS2255. 1. (Pubitemid 351418936)
8. Dewan, E. M., R. H. Picard, R. R. O'Neil, H. A. Gardiner, J. Gibson, J. D. Mill, E. Richards, M. Kendra, and W. O. Gallery (1998), MSX satellite observations of thunderstorm-generated gravity waves in mid-wave infrared images of the upper stratosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25(7), 939-942, doi:10. 1029/98GL00640. (Pubitemid 28431310)
9. Eckermann, S., and C. Marks (1996), An idealized ray model of gravity wave tidal interactions, J. Geophys. Res., 101(D16), 21,195-21,212, doi:10. 1029/96JD01660.
10. Fritts, D. C., and M. J. Alexander (2003), Gravity wave dynamics and effects in the middle atmosphere, Rev. Geophys., 41(1), 1003, doi:10. 1029/2001RG000106.
11. Garcia, F. J., M. J. Taylor, and M. C. Kelley (1997), Two-dimensional spectral analysis of mesospheric airglow image data, Appl. Opt., 36(29), 7374-7385, doi:10. 1364/AO.36. 007374. (Pubitemid 127688009)
12. Garcia, R. R., and S. Solomon (1985), The effect of breaking gravity waves on the dynamics and chemical composition of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 90(D2), 3850-3868, doi:10. 1029/JD090iD02p03850.
13. Grimsdell, A. W., M. J. Alexander, P. T. May, and L. Hoffmann (2010), Model study of waves generated by convection with direct validation via satellite, J. Atmos. Sci., 67, 1617-1631, doi:10. 1175/2009JAS3197. 1.
14. Hecht, J. H., T. J. Kane, R. L. Walterscheid, C. S. Gardner, and C. A. Teplky (1993), Simultaneous nightglow and Na lidar observations at Arecibo during the AIDA-89 campaign, J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys., 55, 409-423, doi:10. 1016/0021-9169(93)90077-C.
15. Hickey, M. (1988a), Effects of eddy viscosity and thermal conduction and Coriolis force in the dynamics of gravity wave driven fluctuations in the OH nightglow, J. Geophys. Res., 93(A5), 4077-4088, doi:10. 1029/JA093iA05p04077.
16. Hickey, M. (1988b), Wavelength dependence of eddy dissipation and Coriolis force in the dynamics of gravity wave driven fluctuations in the OH nightglow, J. Geophys. Res., 93(A5), 4089-4101, doi:10. 1029/JA093iA05p04089.
17. Hickey, M. P., and J. S. Brown (2002), A simulation study of spacebased observations of waves in the airglow using observed ALOHA-93 wave parameters, J. Geophys. Res., 107(A12), 1431, doi:10. 1029/2001JA009225.
18. Hickey, M. P., and Y. Yu (2005), A full-wave investigation of the use of a "cancellation factor" in gravity wave-OH airglow interaction studies, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A01301, doi:10. 1029/2003JA010372.
19. Hines, C. O. (1967), On the nature of travelling ionospheric disturbances launched by low-altitude nuclear explosions, J. Geophys. Res., 72, 1877-1882, doi:10. 1029/JZ072i007p01877.
20. Hines, C. O., and D. W. Tarasick (1987), On the detection and utilization of gravity waves in airglow studies, Planet. Space Sci., 35, 851-866, doi:10. 1016/0032-0633(87)90063-8.
21. Hoffmann, L., and M. J. Alexander (2010), Occurrence frequency of convective gravity waves during the North American thunderstorm season, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D20111, doi:10. 1029/2010JD014401.
22. Holton, J. R. (1982), The role of gravity wave induced drag and diffusion in the momentum budget of the mesosphere, J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 791-799, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(1982)039<0791:TROGWI>2. 0. CO;2.
23. Holton, J. R., and M. J. Alexander (1999), Gravity waves in the mesosphere generated by tropospheric convection, Tellus, Ser. A-B, 51, 45-58. (Pubitemid 29241363)
24. Horinouchi, T., T. Nakamura, and J.-I. Kosaka (2002), Convectively generated mesoscale gravity waves simulated throughout the middle atmosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(21), 2007, doi:10. 1029/2002GL016069.
25. Krassovsky, V. I. (1972), Infrasonic variations of OH emissions in the upper atmosphere, Ann. Geophys., 28, 739-746.
26. Lane, T. P., M. J. Reeder, and T. L. Clark (2001), Numerical modeling of gravity waves generated by deep tropical convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 58, 1249-1274. (Pubitemid 32511816)
27. Lane, T. P., and R. D. Sharman (2006), Gravity wave breaking, secondary wave generation, and mixing above deep convection in a three dimensional cloud model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L23813, doi:10. 1029/2006GL027988.
28. Lane, T. P., R. D. Sharman, T. L. Clark, and H.-M. Hsu (2003), An investigation of turbulence generation mechanisms above deep convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 1297-1321, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(2003)60<1297: AIOTGM>2. 0. CO;2. (Pubitemid 36761880)
29. Lighthill, J. (1978), Waves in Fluids, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K.
30. Lin, Y.-L., and H.-Y. Chun (1991), Effects of diabatic cooling in a shear flow with a critical level, J. Atmos. Sci., 48(23), 2476-2491, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(1991)048<2476:EODCIA>2. 0. CO;2.
31. Lindzen, R. S. (1981), Turbulence and stress owing to gravity wave and tidal breakdown, J. Geophys. Res., 86(C10), 9707-9714, doi:10. 1029/JC086iC10p09707.
32. Liu, A. Z., and G. R. Swenson (2003), A modeling study of O2 and OH airglow perturbations induced by atmospheric gravity waves, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D4), 4151, doi:10. 1029/2002JD002474.
33. Manson, A. H., C. E. Meek, S. K. Avery, and D. Thorsen (2003), Ionospheric and dynamical characteristics of the mesosphere-lower thermosphere region over Platteville (40°N, 105°W) and comparisons with the region over Saskatoon (52°N, 107°W), J. Geophys. Res., 108(D13), 4398, doi:10. 1029/2002JD002835.
34. Nakamura, T., T. Fukushima, T. Tsuda, C. Y. She, B. P. Williams, D. Krueger, and W. Lyons (2005), Simultaneous observation of dual-site airglow imagers and a sodium temperature-wind lidar, and effect of atmospheric stability on the airglow structure, Adv. Space Res., 35, 1957-1963, doi:10. 1016/j.asr.2005. 05. 102. (Pubitemid 41395205)
35. Pandya, R. E., and M. J. Alexander (1999), Linear stratospheric gravity waves above convective thermal forcing, J. Atmos. Sci., 56(14), 2434-2446, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(1999)056<2434:LSGWAC>2. 0. CO;2.
36. Piani, C., D. Durran, M. J. Alexander, and J. R. Holton (2000), A numerical study of three-dimensional gravity waves triggered by deep tropical convection and their role in the dynamics of the QBO, J. Atmos. Sci., 57(22), 3689-3702, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(2000)057<3689:ANSOTD> 2. 0. CO;2.
37. Pierce, A. D., and S. C. Coroniti (1966), A mechanism for the generation of acoustic-gravity waves during thunderstorm formation, Nature, 210, 1209-1210, doi:10. 1038/2101209a0.
38. Pitts, D. E., et al. (1995), Earth observations during space shuttle mission STS-55: Columbia's mission to planet Earth (April 26 - May 6, 1993), Geocarto Int., 10(1), 67-79, doi:10. 1080/10106049509354481.
39. Renick, J. H., and J. B. Maxwell (1977), Forecasting hailfall in Alberta, Meteorol. Monogr., 38, 145-151.
40. Roble, R. G., and E. C. Ridley (1994), A thermosphere ionosphere mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model (time-GCM): Equinox solar cycle minimum simulations (30-500 km), Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(6), 417-420, doi:10. 1029/93GL03391.
41. Schubert, G., and R. Walterscheid (1988), Wave-driven fluctuations in OH nightglow from an extended source region, J. Geophys. Res., 93(A9), 9903-9915, doi:10. 1029/JA093iA09p09903.
42. Sentman, D. D., E. M. Wescott, R. H. Picard, J. R. Winick, H. C. Stenbaek Nielsen, E. M. Dewan, D. R. Moudry, F. T. Sao Sabbas, M. J. Heavner, and J. Morrill (2003), Simultaneous observations of mesospheric gravity waves and sprites generated by a midwestern thunderstorm, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 65, 537-550, doi:10. 1016/S1364-6826(02)00328-0. (Pubitemid 36568203)
43. Smith, S. A., D. C. Fritts, and T. E. Vanzandt (1987), Evidence for a saturated spectrum of atmospheric gravity waves, J. Atmos. Sci., 44, 1404-1410, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(1987)044<1404:EFASSO>2. 0. CO;2.
44. Smith, S., M. Mendillo, J. Baumgardner, and R. Clark (2000), Mesospheric gravity wave imaging at a subauroral site: First results from Millstone Hill, J. Geophys. Res., 105(A12), 27,119-27,130, doi:10. 1029/1999JA000343.
45. Song, I.-S., H.-Y. Chun, and P. P. Lane (2003), Generation mechanisms of convectively forced internal gravity waves and their propagation to the stratosphere, J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 1960-1980, doi:10. 1175/1520- 0469(2003)060<1960:GMOCFI>2. 0. CO;2. (Pubitemid 37124306)
46. Stull, R. B. (1976), Internal gravity waves generated by penetrative convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 33(7), 1279-1286, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(1976) 033<1279:IGWGBP>2. 0. CO;2.
47. Suzuki, S., K. Shiokawa, Y. Otsuka, T. Ogawa, K. Nakamura, and T. Nakamura (2007), A concentric gravity wave structure in the mesospheric airglow images, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D02102, doi:10. 1029/2005JD006558.
48. Swenson, G. R., and C. S. Gardner (1998), Analytical models for the responses of the mesospheric OH* and Na layers to atmospheric gravity waves, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 6271-6294, doi:10. 1029/97JD02985. (Pubitemid 28392671)
49. Swenson, G. R., M. J. Taylor, P. J. Espy, C. Gardner, and X. Tac (1995), ALOHA-93 measurements of intrinsic AGW characteristics using airborne airglow imager and groundbased Na wind/temperature lidar, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22(20), 2841-2844, doi:10. 1029/95GL02579. (Pubitemid 26443320)
50. Taylor, M. J., and M. A. Hapgood (1988), Identification of a thunderstorm as a source of short period gravity waves in the upper atmospheric nightglow emissions, Planet. Space Sci., 36, 975-985, doi:10. 1016/0032-0633(88)90035-9.
51. Taylor, M. J., M. B. Bishop, and V. Taylor (1995), All-sky measurements of short period waves imaged in the OI (557.7nm), Na(589.2nm) and near infrared OH and O2 (0,1) nightglow emissions during the ALOHA-93 campaign, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 2833-2836, doi:10.1029/95GL02946. (Pubitemid 26443322)
52. Taylor, M. J., P.-D. Pautet, A. F. Medeiros, R. Buriti, J. Fechine, D. C. Fritts, S. L. Vadas, H. Takahashi, and F. T. São Sabbas (2009), Characteristics of mesospheric gravity waves near the magnetic equator, Brazil, during the SpreadFEx campaign, Ann. Geophys., 27, 461-472, doi:10. 5194/angeo-27-461-2009.
53. Vadas, S. L., and G. Crowley (2010), Sources of the traveling ionospheric disturbances observed by the ionospheric TIDDBIT sounder near Wallops Island on 30 October 2007, J. Geophys. Res., 115, A07324, doi:10. 1029/2009JA015053.
54. Vadas, S. L., and D. C. Fritts (2004), Thermospheric response to gravity waves arising from mesoscale convective complexes, J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys., 66, 781-804, doi:10. 1016/j.jastp.2004. 01. 025. (Pubitemid 38672564)
55. Vadas, S. L., and D. C. Fritts (2009), Reconstruction of the gravity wave field from convective plumes via ray tracing, Ann. Geophys., 27, 147-177, doi:10. 5194/angeo-27-147-2009.
56. Vadas, S. L., and H. Liu (2009), Generation of large-scale gravity waves and neutral winds in the thermosphere from the dissipation of convectively generated gravity waves, J. Geophys. Res., 114, A10310, doi:10. 1029/2009JA014108.
57. Vadas, S. L., D. C. Fritts, and M. J. Alexander (2003), Mechanism for the generation of secondary waves in wave breaking regions, J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 194-214, doi:10. 1175/1520-0469(2003)060<0194:MFTGOS>2. 0. CO;2. (Pubitemid 37065466)
58. Vadas, S. L., J. Yue, C.-Y. She, P. Stamus, and A. Z. Liu (2009a), A model study of the effects of winds on concentric rings of gravity waves from a convective plume near Fort Collins on 11 May 2004, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D06103, doi:10. 1029/2008JD010753.
59. Vadas, S. L., M. J. Taylor, P.-D. Pautet, P. A. Stamus, D. C. Fritts, H.-L. Liu, F. T. Sao Sabbas, V. T. Rampinelli, P. Batista, and H. Takahashi (2009b), Convection: The likely source of medium-scale gravity waves observed in the OH airglow layer near Brasilia, Brazil, during the SpreadFEx Campaign, Ann. Geophys., 27, 231-259, doi:10. 5194/angeo-27-231-2009b.
60. Wallace, J. M., and P. V. Hobbs (2006), Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey, Elsevier, New York.
61. Walterscheid, R., G. Schubert, and J. Straus (1987), A dynamical-chemical model of wave-driven fluctuations in the OH nightglow, J. Geophys. Res., 92(A2), 1241-1254, doi:10. 1029/JA092iA02p01241.
62. Walterscheid, R. L., G. Schubert, and D. G. Brinkman (2001), Small-scale gravity waves in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere generated by deep tropical convection, J. Geophys. Res., 106(D23), 31,825-31,832, doi:10. 1029/2000JD000131.
63. Yue, J., S. L. Vadas, C.-Y. She, T. Nakamura, S. C. Reising, H.-L. Liu, P. Stamus, D. A. Krueger, W. Lyons, and T. Li (2009), Concentric gravity waves in the mesosphere generated by deep convective plumes in the lower atmosphere near Fort Collins, Colorado, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D06104, doi:10. 1029/2008JD011244.
64. Yue, J., T. Nakamura, C.-Y. She, M. Weber, W. Lyons and T. Li (2010), Seasonal and local time variability of ripples from airglow imager observations in US and Japan, Ann. Geophys., 28, 1401-1408, doi:10. 5194/angeo-28-1401-2010.